Acoustic guitarists I need your help!

[StrongBad]

Hey everyone,

A good friend of mine is getting married next year and being that she knows that I am a pretty decent guitarist, she asked me to play a little set at the cocktail hour during the reception. I gladly said I would do it because she is such a good friend to me and I'd do anything to help her out.

Now, the objective is to mainly provide background instrumental music (no singing which is fine with me because I suck at singing anyway). So, does anyone that plays acoustic guitar have any favorite instrumental tunes, or perhaps some well known pop tunes that translate well into instrumental form that I can play? My playing ability is pretty good so don't worry about level of difficulty too much. I really appreciate the help everyone. I want to have this go off without a hitch for my friend.

[SmileyBoy]

1. A softer version of Classical Gas, maybe.

Also might I recommend softer guitar licks for "Lightning Crashes" by Live.

[Pepperbelly]

2. Something, Michelle, Yesterday ...

as a medley ...

[Maddy McCall]

3. And Norwegian Wood

Maybe?

[BeatleBoot]

4. Sunspots

by Bob Mould

[kcwayne]

5. Acoustic Instrumentals

I have always found that people enjoyed my renditions of:

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (J.S. Bach)
Blackbird (Beatles)
Mood for Day (Yes)
Elanor Rigby (Beatles, ala Stanley Jordan's jazz rendering)
Misty (Enroll Garner --- that 50/60's era love ballad)

[StrongBad]

7. Welcome to DU!

And thank you for the suggestions...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Add Pachebal's Canon to that.

Easy to play since it's mostly arpeggio's

[Xandor]

6. If you're a fingerstyle player...

check out Duck Baker's arrangement of Shebeg an Shemor. This is a beautiful Turlough O'Carolan harp tune that is often played at weddings. Baker's guitar arrangement uses drop D tuning, and the way the adjacent notes are left to ring does sound harp-like. It's on Baker's instruction video titled "Celtic Airs, Jigs, Reels & Hornpipes" and it's also included in "Mel Bay's Complete Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar Book". Both are available from Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop site at http://guitarvideos.com/

Good luck!

[OrdinaryTa]

9. Other Carolan Sources

I did a brief web search for sound files of O'Carolan's music. One place to start is http://www.contemplator.com/carolan/ The site also has one-line melody notes printed out for O'Carolan's famous Concerto at that site, followed by /concerto.gif. (If I gave the complete URL, it would appear here.)

One place to hear a guitar orchestration of O'Carolan tunes is at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000E9G/002-4192532-3892855?vi=glance but you may disagree with the artist's interpretation of the music.

The story behind O'Carolan's Concerto is this: In O'Carolan's time, when wandering musicians encountered each other it was traditional for them to bounce tunes off one another. Sometimes they invented them on the spot. O'Carolan had never heard a concerto before, and he was taken with its melodic intricacies. According to legend, he wrote his own Concerto immediately upon first hearing one.

[Robb]

8. I was at a reception where

the classical guitarist was playing the Johnnie Marr (sp?) part from the Smith's "back to the old house" song. It took me a minute to figure out where I'd heard it before! I looked at him and said "Hey!!" and he smiled, glad someone got it I guess.

Anyhow, I think it's neat to slip things in. I'm sure with enough talent, one could do a nice version of "Smoke on the Water" that would get past most people. :evilgrin:

[mitchum]

11. "Me and Mrs Jones"

see if you can sneak it by...

[trof]

12. malaguanya

malagainja
meleeganja
<hic>
"Hey buuudy?
C'n yeeew pl<hic>ay
maallagwayneyah?"

[Character Assassin]

13. If you're up to it, 'Nardis' has always sounded great on guitar.

Tony Rice has done particularly good takes on it.

[sirshack]

14. Bust out some Wes Montgomery....n/t

....